Do younger MPs make better ministers?

OLD VERSUS YOUNG: Many people in India believe that age brings wisdom with it.

          

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Seventy percent of India is under the age of 35 but the age of our ministers is among the oldest in the world. Two new ministers were recently inducted in the council of ministers - the 34-year-old Minister of State for Steel Jitin Prasada and 37-year-old Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Jyotiraditya Scindia.

But can the young turks turn their popularity into votes or make themselves heard in Parliament?

The average age of the Indian Cabinet is 59 while the average age of the British cabinet by contrast is 49. The new President elect of Russia Dimitry Medvedev is only 42 while Manmohan Singh at 75 is the second oldest leader in the world.

Even the Opposition party in India has nothing new to offer. While Atal Bihari Vajpayee was 74 when he became the Prime Minister, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate for the next election L K Advani is 81.

And that brings us to the question of the day that was asked on CNN-IBN show Face the Nation: Do younger MPs make better ministers?

On the panel of experts to debate the issue threadbare were Jyotiraditya Scindia, Rajya Sabha MP from the NCP Supriya Sule, Political Editor of DNA Arati Jerath and BJP Vice-President of Delhi Poonam Azad.

Old vs young

Many in India believe that age brings wisdom with it. But with a country that's dominated with a young population, isn't it time that the baton of power be passed to the youth?

Beginning the debate, Scindia said, “Age is not the only factor to determine effectiveness of one’s job. It has to be a combination of age and experience. Agreed that the country has a large young population but we cannot ignore the experienced. I am thankful to Sonia Gandhiji, the PM and Rahulji for giving me this opportunity. But the jury is still out on the age factor. Dipstick polls are not the done thing in this regard.”

Agreeing with Scindia, Sule said, “The Cabinet now is a great combination of new ideas and energy with experience.”

But do young politicians face an uphill task in facing the bureaucracy when compared to seasoned politicians?

“Age really does not matter. What we really need are good ministers, period,” Jerath said and then added, “The effectiveness of a minister depends on his or her talent and skills. If a person is inexperienced then it may take him longer to understand how the Government works and if they are quick on the uptake then learning the ropes don’t take too long. It depends solely on the person.”

But the NDA seems to be losing out in the battle for young politicians. Its prime ministerial candidate will be on the other side of 80 by the time the General Elections come around.

Azad said that a young person in the Cabinet is a good move and this is above the party lines.

“We all welcome this decision. As far as the BJP is concerned we also have a youthful face, which includes Dr Harsh Vardhan and me. Wisdom is an important quality and that comes with experience. So that has to be taken into account. Also, just by inducting young leaders we cannot expect young voters. Rahul Gandhi tried in UP but we all know what happened,” Azad said.

She also went on to explain that most young politicians are representatives of a political family so success comes easy to such MPs.